Wattpad Original
There are 6 more free parts

We Thought We Were Doing the Right Thing

90.2K 3.4K 449
                                    

"Aunt Stevie!" Maddie yelled the second Stephanie opened the door, hurling herself into her arms as if they'd been separated for a month instead of barely an eight-hour workday.

"How'd it go today?" Stephanie asked, as she crouched down on the floor to hug Maddie, looking over her shoulder at Lisa.

"The art camp didn't work out," Lisa said.

Maddie pushed back and looked up at Stephanie's face, her eyes big and affronted.
"They wouldn't let Lisa stay in the room with me and I didn't know anybody. So we came home and drew pictures. Let me show you!" Maddie raced off to the living room coffee table, which Stephanie could see was littered with papers and art supplies.

"You said I shouldn't push her," Lisa began.

"You did the right thing." Stephanie dropped her briefcase on a side table in the entranceway, and walked toward the living room, tossing her jacket over the back of one of the white upholstered chairs – white upholstery? What had she been thinking of with a five-year-old? She'd carry everything into her bedroom later. But she'd learned from experience that Madelyn really needed those few minutes of her absolute attention the moment Stephanie came in the door. Stephanie had dealt with a few clients like that, so she could relate.

"Let's just wait a few days and try again," Stephanie said, and Lisa nodded. But if Maddie couldn't be left for even a short period of time at the Art Center with Lisa in the very next room, Stephanie had no idea how they were going to cope with kindergarten in the fall. "Baby steps," Stephanie said aloud, reminding herself of the therapist's advice.

Maddie tugged on her arm indignantly while clutching a bunch of drawings in the other hand.
"I'm not a baby!"

"Of course you're not. Baby steps means getting used to new things a little at a time."

Maddie nodded and dropped her hands to her sides, the papers falling to the floor. "Like Mommy being gone?"

Stephanie had already decided that negotiating billion dollar deals was smooth sailing compared to navigating the grief of a five-year-old. Sometimes she had no idea what direction to go, but when in doubt the best thing to do seemed to be to just keep moving. And just like advising clients, you tell them what they needed to know, not what they wanted to hear.

"Actually, not having your mommy anymore is like a huge jump for both of us." She took Maddie's hand, and it felt so small in hers. "We jump and we might not always know where we are going to land, but it's going to be okay because we're doing it together."

"Mommy's never coming back."

"I know." She squeezed Maddie's hand and fought back the lump in her own throat. "But Mommy's right here in our hearts forever. So sometimes we take baby steps and sometimes we take a big leap."

Stephanie stepped out of her heels and kicked them aside, and gave Maddie's hand a little tug. "Come on, Maddie, take a big leap with me!"

And they jumped. Over and over across the living room floor toward the tall windows with the spectacular view of downtown Miami and Biscayne Bay. Then they turned and worked their way back to the scattered drawings, taking only the smallest baby steps. Then they did it again.

After Madelyn was tucked into bed for the night and sleeping, Stephanie pulled out the files she needed to review and sat down at the table in the dining room. But she couldn't concentrate. The stack of pictures Maddie had drawn were in a pile, and she picked them up and looked through them. Picture after picture showed Maddie holding hands with Samantha. Maddie had an uncanny ability to draw people – not that Samantha wouldn't have been easily recognizable by the long hair caught back in the habitual pony tail that both of them had once worn.

Law, Lies, and Love AffairsWhere stories live. Discover now